My partner and I have been having a tough month with immigration, which I'll write a post on when I'm ready and feel more distanced from it, as it's too stressful right now to really break it down. But I've welcomed all sorts of distractions, such as volunteering at a local Educational Library Service on my days off, and ballet. I bought £6 tickets for my partner and I to go see The Royal Ballet's production of The Winter's Tale, and we went last week on Wednesday, April 23. Talk about the most beautiful escape where every real life issue was instantly forgotten and left outside of the theatre for the three hours the ballet was on.
For £6 seats in the amphitheater what you do miss out on is some of the background and beautiful sets. But what you don't miss out on is the dancing. We could hear the pitter-patter of the ballerina's pointe shoes across the stage, and see the sweat dripping off the principal's faces as they danced. It was fantastic.
At this point I've only seen Giselle and The Sleeping Beauty, both performed by the Royal Ballet at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, which I enjoyed. But The Winter's Tale was different. The narrative of this story was so strong, and the acting was superb. Ed Watson as Leontes was like a lizard, crawling out of his skin with jealousy as he skulked around Hermonie and Polixenes during the first act. Act 1 was emotionally traumatic to watch, because as a viewer I felt part of their story, and watched the happiness of Leontes' court fall to pieces as he lost everything.
The second act was full of sweetness and light due to the gorgeous music and Sarah Lamb's Perdita and Steven McRae's Florizel. They really made the audience feel them falling in love during their pas de deux.
After that Wednesday, I fell in love with the ballet to the point where I booked a ticket to see it in Cinema's during the ROH Live showing. (It's probably unfair to mention I paid £12 for two tickets to see it live, and £20 for one ticket to see it in the cinema.) I was a little skeptical that the ballet wouldn't translate well on a screen as opposed to real life but I really shouldn't have worried. It was almost better in a way due to the sweeping camera angles and close ups, the subtly of the dancers acting was much more visible. By Act 3 there were sounds of crying as the audience in the cinema was moved to tears by the end. I walked out of the cinema feeling the lightest I had in months.
Here's hoping The Royal Opera House releases the ballet on DVD, it's truly amazing.
Image credit to ROH and The Guardian.
